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Red Bugs (Chiggers)

RED BUGS, CHIGGERS, HARVEST MITES, JIGGERS

Red Bugs!!!! I itch all over just thinking about them. Below are some tips to make chiggers a little bit less of a nuisance.

BIOLOGY: Chiggers are the immature stage of a harvest mite. They are 8 legged, red, about the size of a pencil point, and belong in the Arachnid group of animals which also includes spiders, ticks and scorpions. For them to become mature mites they must have a blood meal. They will attach themselves to you, usually around body creases, where they inject saliva into the wound. They may feed for several days before they drop off and continue their development. The breaking down of the body tissue surrounding this bite causes severe itching.

CONTROL: Keep the areas that you spend your time in trimmed and mowed as well as you can. Apply insect repellent around ankles and arm pits when you go into the woods. Spray with permethrin in areas where you must go to keep chiggers, ticks and ants to a minimum.

BODY CARE: Immediately upon entering the house remove all your clothes and wash them. Take a shower. Use alcohol around the arm pits and ankles and other tight body places. If you have bites the next day, as a kid the best thing I found to stop a chigger itch was to apply fingernail polish on the bite.